RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



FROM THE EGG TO THE TOAD. 



TiiEKE are some facts connected with the 

 natural histoiy of the toad which may not 

 be familiar to some of our younger read- 

 ers. The female toad, when the period of 

 incubation approaches completion, seeks 

 water, where she deposits her spawn in shal- 

 low places, winding the spiral beads of eggs 

 around the grass, where it is left to hatch. 

 In a few days — the time depending on the 

 temperature of the water — the eggs hatch, 

 not a toad, but a tadpole, breathing like a 

 fish through gills, and living entirelj- in water 

 as fish do. 



This tadpole grows very rapidly, and in 

 ten or twelve days the transformation to the 

 toad commences by the appearance of the 

 two hind-legs ; next come the fore-legs, 

 and the little fellow presents the curious ap- 

 pearance of a toad with a tail. The horny 

 beak with which the tadpole's mouth is 

 armed now drops oft' and the toad's mouth 

 takes its place. Gradually the tail is ab- 

 sorbed and a diminutive toad leaves the 

 water, breathes like an animal through nos- 

 trils instead of gills, and now may be drowned 

 in water while the tadpole would have been 

 drowned in air. The little toad now starts 

 out to make his living by catching the in- 

 sects. — ./. S. N., in Southern World. 



QUERCUS MAGNIFICA. 



'J'liis surviving monarch of the " forest pri- 

 meval, " found at Munroe's Four Corners, in 

 South Seekonk, about five miles from Mar- 

 ket Square, on the Providence and Fall 

 River road, measures ten feet in diameter at 

 the ground, and for thirty feet in height the 

 diameter of the trunk is about five feet. Its 

 arms, too, are giants and spread to a prodi- 

 gious length. On roots, trunk and limbs, 

 the knots and gnarls are many and massive. 

 The age of this kingly white oak, probably 

 the largest now to be found on the Atlantic 

 coast, has been a deep question. Its best 

 traditions may be found in the Munroe fam- 

 ily and with Mr. Matthew W. Armington, the 

 oracle of East Providence history. With 

 reason it is thought that it can count from 

 six to eight hundred years, the probabilities 

 being with the larger number. It is known 

 that about two hundred years ago it was as 

 large as it is at present, for during that time 

 the gales have robbed it of some Herculean 



limbs. It is told that Revolutionary sol- 

 diers, marching through the country, here 

 halted and boiled their beef and pork under 

 its branches. On one of its large arms for 

 a time swung the sign of the old and famed 

 Munroe Tavern. For several generations, 

 as men count them, the huge trunk has been 

 somewhat hollow, and has been inhabited l)y 

 squirrels and swarms of honey-bees. Boys 

 have exterminated the squirrels, but tlie 

 bees still hold the fort. Multitudes of trav- 

 elers and festive parties have stopped to rest 

 and share their lunches beneath the royal 

 branches. This is the historic tree men- 

 tioned in Bliss' History of Rehoboth. It is 

 commended to photographers. It ought to 

 be protected by an iron fence. 



To stand under this tree, with Mr. Arm- 

 ington as its interpreter, is to be filled with 

 a sentiment of veneration and be carried 

 back through all the history of New England 

 and into the dim centuries of Indian life. It 

 is easy to imagine that here paused Massa- 

 soit, Roger Williams, and King Philip. It 

 is not hard to believe that the ancestors of 

 Massasoit might have held war councils in 

 its shade, for its grandeur naturally invited 

 grave assemblies. Now if the famed mer- 

 chants. Brown & Ives, deemed it suitable 

 and wise to protect the life of the grand old 

 oak at Lonsdale, how strong is the claim for 

 this nobler patriarch of the forest to be sa- 

 credly preserved. Woe to the hand that 

 shall rudely strike it. Even the birds of cen- 

 turies have sanctified it with their songs. 



Mr. J. B. Smith prepares his duplicate 

 Coleoptera in the following manner: They 

 are soaked for a week or more in a fluid 

 composed of 100 grammes of alum, 25 of 

 salt, 12 of saltpetre, 60 of potash, and 10 

 of white arsenic dissolved in 3000 grammes 

 of boiling water. The solution is filtered, 

 and when cold add to every ten parts four 

 of glycerine and one of methyl alcohol. 

 Insects prepared in this manner remain soft 

 and flexible, and can be sent in boxes with- 

 out being pinned and without danger of 

 b re ak i n g . — Scie nee Record . 



Ridgway's Nomenclature of North 

 American Birds. Government edition. 

 Price 35 cents, post-paid. 



Southwick & Jencks' Bird Catalogue, for 

 20c. f contains the above. 



